People won’t go to restaurants till November; Zomato, Swiggy to make hay as people choose food delivery

People are unlikely to go to restaurants for another 60 days as fear of public spaces remain high amid coronavirus pandemic.

People are unlikely to go to restaurants for another 60 days as fear of public spaces remain high amid coronavirus pandemic. While India has entered Unlock Phase 4, the pains of the restaurant industry are likely to continue for a while as footfalls remain due to coronavirus fear. “It has been 3 months since restaurants became operational and although the industry was quite happy with the decision, consumers have largely stayed away from eating out due to the COVID-19 fear,” a LocalCircles survey said on Monday. However, food delivery channels still remain operational and offer some respite to the industry and online food delivery platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy are likely to make hay.

“Food Aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato have been reporting approximately 50% of sales recovery as compared to pre COVID-19 including the supplies of groceries and

essentials which they commenced in April 2020,” the report said. On the other hand, the business of restaurants remains down and there have been reports stating that many restaurants and cafes have shut down shops as they were unable to recover even their operational costs due to lack of customers. Many other restaurants are now struggling to stay afloat. To woo customers again while fears of public spaces remain, restaurants have also been trying to secure permissions from the government to start open-air dining.

Only 2% of the respondents surveyed by LocalCircles said that they visited restaurants several times to eat out in the last 60 days while only 3% said they visited restaurants just a few times. About 21% of the respondents said while they didn’t visit a restaurant, they got food delivered to their homes a few times. A majority of the population by 72% said that they neither visited a restaurant nor did home delivery of restaurant food. 

Meanwhile, in the coming 60 days as well, it is likely that the restaurants business will remain low with only 3% of the respondents saying that they plan to visit restaurants several times to eat out and only 6% said they plan to visit restaurants just a few times to eat out. About 22% said they have no plans to visit a restaurant but will get food delivered to their homes.